Has your family been living in Rhode Island for generations? Are you thinking about tracing your family history to create a family tree for everyone to enjoy? If so, then you are going to need to find ways to get information about your ancestors who lived in Rhode Island many years ago. In order to do this, you will need to know what you are looking for. Names are good. If you have the name of an ancestor, such as your great-great grandmother, you can research that name, and find out a lot of information that will lead you to other ancestors to add to your family tree.
When you are getting ready to begin researching your family tree, the obvious place to start is with yourself. Include information about yourself and your siblings. The, add the information about your parents and their siblings. Then your grandparents! Rather than jumping all over the place, it is best to keep on going back in this order, at least until you get the hang of researching your family's history. Of course, you are going to have to use many different sources to get all of the information you need once you start getting to those who have already passed on, especially if there is no one alive who remembers them. At this point, you will need to start looking elsewhere for your information, such as the Internet, where there are all kinds of great websites that are devoted to genealogy and helping people trace their family histories. Things to look for include documents such as cemetery records, which can provide you with a lot of good information.
There is much information to be found in cemetery records, and you can get these records by contacting the individual cemeteries, or doing a search online. One website that you may find helpful is
Access Genealogy. You will find an alphabetical listing of Rhode Island cemeteries by county, as well as links to various cemetery maps. Links to maps will also take you to more links, where you can get access to Rhode Island death, birth and marriage records.
Some of the things that you will learn from cemetery records are going to be helpful to you for further research about other ancestors. For example, you will learn the name of the deceased's spouse, as well as any next of kin, including children. You may even learn the names of the deceased's parents, which will take you back yet another generation in your research. Make sure that you do include cemetery records as part of your research of your Rhode Island ancestors, because this is information that you are going to need.
The Rhode Island Historical Cemeteries Transcription Project holds the lofty goal of transcribing every headstone in the state. Formed in 1990 to preserve those tombstones that are getting increasingly difficult to read, phase 2 of this ambitious organization is sending volunteers to locate and double check every transcription in the database. In most cases, you can find first and last names as well as birth and death dates. To retrieve Rhode Island burial records, follow the instructions below.
Step 1.
Click here: Rhode Island Historical Cemeteries Transcription Project
Step 2. Select the Search Rhode Island Cemeteries Master Index link.
Step 3. Enter the person's first and last name, then hit search to view results.
Rhode Island may be a small state, but the people who live there wouldn't live anywhere else. The coastline is packed with beaches, great fishing and wonderful things to do and the interior of the state is quiet and serene. If you are in search of Rhode Island cemetery records, the best thing you can do is to order online for all of your needs.
You can also attempt to contact the organization that runs and maintains the individual cemetery that your loved one is interred in. If you don't have the exact name or if you aren't sure about the location, you can contact the Rhode Island Funeral Directors Association to see if they have any information on file that matches the name and dates that you have. Since Rhode Island is such a small state, it does not have any military burial sites. It is one of the few states to be without such cemeteries, although many surrounding states have them. If you are positive that your loved one is buried in a military cemetery, try Massachusetts or New York, instead. Ordering your cemetery records online is fast and easy and you can have them shipped right to your door in a matter of days.
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